Kosciusko County GOP Issues Apology Following Election Day Racial Comment By Poll Worker
By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews
WARSAW – A Republican Party election worker won’t be returning for future elections after he referred to a fellow poll worker, who is an African American, as a “token black.”
Party Chairman Mike Ragan issued an apology Friday, June 5, to the woman, a Democrat poll worker, and said the person who made the comment will never work in another election as long as he has anything to do with it.
The incident happened Tuesday at First Christian Church, off Ranch Road in Warsaw, which was being used as a polling place.
The man, who was not identified, was working as a poll inspector.
Ragan said he reached out to her on Friday with an apology.
Ragan said more than one person who was there confirmed what was said.
“The entire Kosciusko County Republican Central Committee joins in this apology,” Ragan said in the statement, adding the comment “does not represent our party’s deeply held values and beliefs.”
“No individual’s service to our community should ever be demeaned or diminished because of the color of (their) skin. We will ensure that the inspector who made the comment does not work the polls in the future.”
The woman posted a public comment on her Facebook page early Wednesday morning. It read: “First time I’ve ever been called a token black. That’s the thanks I got from an inspector while working at the polls yesterday.”
Ragan called the incident “disgusting.”
The woman did not return a phone call left late Friday afternoon.